Food Stamp Fraud Soars To $750 Million Each Year

In 2012, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said that food stamp fraud totals $750 million each year – a number that more than doubles the cost of trafficking reported in a 2006- 2008 USDA study.

Kevin Concannon, U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, told the Huffington Post last year that food stamp fraud totals around $750 million each year.

The $750 million number is more than double the amount in total dollars of fraud detected annually in a 2006-2008 study on trafficking – a type of fraud that involves selling Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to food retailers for cents on the dollar.

“This is $750 million that isn’t being used to provide food to individuals and families and that issue isn’t lost on us. We want to maintain the confidence of American taxpayers because everyone is challenged in this economy – the payers as well as the folks who are benefiting from the program,” Concannon said.

By my calculations: It would take a concerted effort by about 470,000 families selling every one of the 'stamps' they got for the Year ($1,600,00) to do that kind of 'fraud'. However, since 'stamps' are no longer physical objects, a few dedicated people (or agencies) could easily divert that much electronically, (Ala blackbox voting) if they had someplace to send it to and the means to 'launder' it. Or, the Dept. of Ag. could have just 'lost' it somewhere, as a lot of our agencies have a wont to do. (Ala DOD 9/10/01)